Fall of the Sake King
by annyenil
Summary: Kyoraku Shunsui was the man of every lady's dream. So when Ise Nanao simply will not succumb to his charm, he has to resort to other measures......Rated T for content. It could get worse in future
1. Diet Distress

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

"Taichou! Where are you? Taichou?" A flustered Ise Nanao had searched around the Division Headquarters a few times and still unable to locate her Taichou, who was, unusually, not lazing around on the rooftop of the office, chewing some sort of un-named grass plucked off the courtyard. Nanao had just returned from a trip to the florist to pick up her Taichou's latest stock of flower petals and found the most urgent and terrifying document from the Fourth Division.

Nanao sighed very loudly and stomped her feet. Her Taichou had just done something very humiliating to himself. Kyoraku Shunsui had failed the Monthly Division Officer Health Check! He was the only person who did not pass the test aside from Ukitake Taichou, but that was for a different reason. Nanao put a hand to her perspiring forehead, "Goodness me. Taichou is overweight!"

Immediately, Nanao went out to the Division Kitchen and instructed that all the sake in the pantry must be given away or hidden, and that a new menu must be imposed for their Taichou. She was beginning to have a headache, "That wrenched man. He wouldn't listen no matter what I say. He is fifteen kilograms overweight!"

That night at dinner, Kyoraku Shunsui was the most miserable man on earth. "Nanao-san why is my dinner only a bowl of salad?"

"Taichou. That is not a bowl. That is a bathtub."

"But, Nanao-san, oh lovely Nanao-sanwhy can't I have like, I don't know, rice and meat like everybody else?"

"Taichou! You know you have failed the Monthly Health Check because you are overweight, now eat your salad!"

"Oh, Nanao-san, you have underestimated me." A grinning Kyoraku Shunsui pulled out a packet of Monaka Sake, his favourite wine-flavoured rice cake with bean paste, and began tossing them into his mouth one by one.

"Ouch!" A heavy book had landed on Shunsui's head. He quickly kept his monaka and fled the dinning room. Upon stepping into the pantry, the servants bowed to him and all said, "Taichou, we have kept the sake in your secret compartment as you had instructed."

Ise Nanao thought she was having hallucinations when she entered the Office that night and found her Taichou drinking sake and eating monaka. She could feel her capillaries burst. Hastily, she grabbed the bottle of sake and the monaka out of her Taichou's hands. "Taichou! This is serious problem. Do you know that in the history of Gotei 13, no taichous had ever failed the Health Check because they are _overweight_?"

"Awww, Nanao-san. You have injured my feelings so. But you see, if I do not get my sake and monaka, I will be extremely disturbed. And when I am disturbed, no work can be done."

"Taichou, I am the one who is doing the work."

"No, no, Nanao-san. When I said no work can be done. I meant _no_ work can be done. I shall disturb you instead."

"Taichou……please take care of yourself. I will be off to complete my duties."

"Not so fast, Nanao-san you must either give me back my sake or monaka, or play with me" Shunsui was cleary having fun with his fukutaichou, who was as uptight as he was not.

"For the sake of the Taichou's health, I suppose I must……sacrifice myself." Nanao thought, sitting down next to Shunsui like a mother gently loving her child. "What would you like to play, Taichou?"

"Why don't we play rock-paper-scissors? The loser has to take off clothes!" An evil twinkle had appeared in Shunsui's eyes.

Protectively Nanao raised up a book over her lack of blossom. "That's not fair, Taichou! You have at least ten layers of clothing!"

"Aren't you dying to look beneath, oh Lovely Nanao-san"

"Taichou!" Nanao considered punching her Taichou, but seeing as how he was in a lunatic cold turkey from the prohibition of sake and monaka, she took pity on him and agreed to play with him.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors!"

"Aha! I won! Do the honours, will you, my Lovely Nanao?"

Ise Nanao had never felt so violated in her life. Just as she was blushing, her angel jumped through the window to save her.

"Sui-Sui!" Kusajishi Yachiru clung on to the huge form that was Shunsui, "Where is my candy?"

"Not now, Yachiru. I am in the middle of something very important!"

"I want my candy NOW!"

Nanao blinked.

"Not now, Yachiru. Be a good girl. I will buy you monaka and candy later, ok?"

"I don't want monaka. Sui-Sui, I want candy. And I want it now!"

"Yachi-"

"Sui-Sui! You pwomised me that if I clung on you and kept quiet when you were doing the health check, you would give me candy!"

Nanao blinked.

"TAICHOU!!"


	2. Elixir of Love

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

"Are you sure you want to do this, Kyoraku Shunsui Taichou, Eighth Division?" Retsu Unohana spoke calmly, albeit a little suspicious of the man before her. She had known Shunsui for ages, and just as much as she would not remove the honorifics, he would not behave in a manner fitting of a Taichou. Or any man of honorable reputation actually.

"Please, Retsu senpai. I really could do with your help."

"But……as a woman and your senior, I do not feel that this is something I ought to do."

"But, but as a fellow Taichou, I am sure you can perfectly understand my intentions and are willing to assist me, isn't it, Retsu senpai?" Shunsui grinned his most attractive grin at Unohana.

"Even though you said that you want a medicine to sedate your fukutaichou so that she could take a break from her hectic work schedule, Kyoraku Taichou, I some how have this rather intuitive sensation that this is only an ostensible motive."

"C'mon, Retsu senpai. Considering that we have been friends for years……"

"I am sorry, Kyoraku Taichou. I do not recall having been friends with you for years. Rather, I have been _treating_ you friend for years. But……very well, I will give you my assistance. Yamada Hanatarou Seventh Seat, please pass a long a bottle of Potion No. 86730203 to Kyoraku Taichou."

"Thank you very much, Retsu senpai."

"Let me warn you, Kyoraku Taichou. Toying with women's emotions is a very, very perilous thing to do, especially if done flamboyantly and carelessly."

Without taking heed, Shunsui happily went back with the drug to poison his lovely, lovely Nanao-chan.

"Yamada Seventh Seat, what did you pass to Kyoraku Taichou?"

"As you had ins…instructed, Taichou. The Potion No. 86760203."

"Very well."

"Tai…Taichou. May…may I inquire, what is the function of this potion?"

"Oh. We will soon find out. Now Yamada Seventh Seat. I must trouble you to help me search in the storeroom for a few bottles of the Skin Healing Cream."

"Hai, Taichou."

Meanwhile, in the Eighth Division Kitchen-

"Psssst."

"Hai, Taichou. May I help you?"

"Could you please slip a _little_ of this into Ise fukutaichou's dinner later?"

"But…Taichou…"

"Now, just do as I say."

"Hai, Taichou……"

Kyoraku Shunsui was in an unusually cheerful mood as he ascended the ladder to his rooftop and laid down, humming a little bucolic tune. _Hehe……Nanao-san will faint after the drug. And fall right into the arms of her hero…….hehe……_ "Goodness. I am one evildoer." Shunsui couldn't help but grin at his evil, astute and creative mind.

At dinner that day, Shunsui was being unusually boisterous. He hardly touched his sake at all, and in fact had been trying to feed most of his stock to his bemused fukutaichou.

"Thank you very much, Taichou. But I really don't drink."

"Are you very certain, my lovely Nanao-san?" Shunsui said, passing a silent wink to the serving mistress, who nodded her head in respect (and hidden disdain) as she laid down the last dish of dinner and bowed off.

Suddenly, Ise Nanao did something she had never done before. "Taichou……"

"Nanao……?" Nanao's expression had suddenly blanked out like a white canvas. Shunsui had become extremely excited as he waited with bated breath for his turn at playing hero.

"TAICHOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! MUA!"

Ise Nanao had been fed something else contrary to Shunsui's wishes.

"Damn. Retsu senpai and her woman shinigami rights." Shunsui cursed under his breath but had little time to react as Nanao, suddenly overcame with immense strength, single-handedly dragged him into the Division Office and shoved him onto the couch.

"Nanao-san! No! What are you doing?"

"Taichou, you have no idea how much I desire you." Nanao screamed and flung herself at Shunsui, who had suddenly become very afraid. Shunsui was one who preferred girls that ran away from him, but not towards him.

"You are not running away, my sexy Taichou!" Ise Nanao was chasing after her taichou in the manner of the 10th Division fukutaichou. Her hair was now fluttering behind her in wild waves and her eyes had a wanton determination in them. "Come back here, Taichou!"

Shunsui in his shock had little ability to dodge as his fukutaichou pounced on him. "No! No! Nanao-san-"

"TAICHOU! I've got you!" Nanao shriekd in pleasure as she grabbed hold of Shunsui's arm and refused to let go.

"NO!"

It was a long night.

The next morning, Nanao stood at the door of the rummaged Division Office. "What had happened here, Taichou? It's such a mess!"

"It's ok Nanao-san. I will clean it up." Shunsui said, with eyebags shadowing his usual sparkling eyes. A new darkness was shrouding over him.

"Taichou, you are bleeding! Why have you not asked the Fourth Division to heal you? What have you done yesterday?" A concerned Nanao asked.

"It's all right, Nanao. Please do me a favour. Head down to the Fourth Division, and ask them for a bottle of Skin Healing Cream."

"Hai, Taichou."

"And…"

"Yes, Taichou?"

"Never mind. Tell them that your are getting the cream as a favour to……"

"To?"

"Hisagi fukutaichou next door. Because he had no time."

"Hai, Taichou."

When Nanao had left, Shunsui groaned over his deep nail cuts and blue bruises. With a sigh, he whistled.

"Sui-sui!" A familiar pink figure fell through the window.

"Yachiru, I have some candy here..."

"Sui-sui! Are you doing bad things again?"

"Just do me a favour."

"But you must pwomise me to give me candy!"

"All right. Now go next door and……" He whispered into Yachiru's ear.


	3. Guide to Life

**Author's Note:** I concluded that since I am going to flunk my exams, I might as well do something fun anyway. Besides, it is highly unlikely that I will _actually_ flunk.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

It was a day like any other in the Eighth Division. Ise Nanao fukutaichou was stomping around the Division Headquarters with an authoritative air giving out orders to her officers with an austere look on her face and her eyes masked by reflections on her spectacles. Except today, she was a little more stern than usual, and had scared off an exceptional number of officers who had gone to complain to their taichou that "Ise fukutaichou is PMS-ing".

"Is that so?" Kyoraku Shunsui asked lazily, twirling around a strand of his dark brown hair, a shallow grin had emerged at the corners of his lips, desired by most women in Sereitei, and despised by Nanao. "Then, for the sake of my Lovely Nanao-chan, I shall go take a look at her."

A moment later, Shunsui had descended from the rooftop and was walking towards his Office with his comrade Ukitake Jyuushirou to brave the dragon lady. Jyuushirou was hesitant, "Sui, why do I have to accompany you?"

"Jyuu, do you have any idea how frightening my lovely Nanao-san is when she gets cross? Remember the nail scratches?"

"But that was because-"

"Good day, Ukitake Taichou, Good day, Taichou." A nervous-looking Nanao greeted the two men as they entered the office and sat down, each pretending to be discussing some serious topics. Ukitake picked up a copy of _Shinigami's War Weekly_ and leafed through gingerly with one eye above the magazine. He made an eye at Shunsui that said, "Pssst. I don't see anything wrong. Now can I go back before Sentaro and Kiyone tears down my office?" Shunsui jerked his eyebrows to indicate a "No" with a pleading look on his face. Jyuushirou sighed and succumbed to his friend's request.

Nanao was consciously aware of the two men staring at her, so she tried to make some small talk. "Ukitake Taichou, how are you feeling these days?"

"Quite fine, thank you for asking, Nanao."

"How about me, Nanao-chan? How come you never asked me how _I_ am feeling?"

Nanao covertly rolled her eyes and returned to her paperwork, but her eyes became shifty and her palms were getting sweaty. _This is not working……_

Tension accumulated in the office as the eyes on Nanao became almost scutinizing. Shunsui and Jyuushirou had given up on remaining inconspicuously as they openly observed Nanao hustled and bustled about the office with a sort of determined flame ignited in her eyes to ignore the men staring at her. Sometimes, at the desk, she would glance up at her Taichou and Ukitake Taichou for a brief, almost awkward moment before returning to her work. Then the glances became more and more frequent, but never meeting any of the men's eyes.

Nanao was getting frustrated and high-strung. Now she had one hand on her hair, doing a peculiar sort of stroking motion that resemble her wanting to tear her hair out as a form of circumventing. Both Shunsui and Jyuushirou watched with noted interest and Nanao finally gave up and stormed out of the office, dropping the documents in her arms all over the floor in front of her Taichous.

"Oh, Nanao. Let me help you."

"Nanao-chan, oh lovely Nanao-chan. Are you all right?"

"Yes, Taichou. Thank you, Taichou. Thank you, Ukitake Taichou." Nanao managed a weak bow and fled the office.

"YES! Jyuu! Did you see that? She was trying to flirt with me!"

"How so, Sui?" Jyuushirou had nothing but amusement on his face, for from what he had observed, his friend's fukutaichou was simply suffering from a case of extreme mood swings aggravated by this flamboyant man's tactless actions, not to mention his own.

"Did you see the way she kept looking up at me, and never meeting my eyes?"

"If that is what you call it, then I suppose……" Jyuushirou had secretly thought those were warning signals for the two of them to take leave, but Shunsui had decidedly not taken heed of them.

"And…and the way she was twirling her hair? She was imitating the way I always twirled my beautiful brown locks! See?" Shunsui demonstrated by twirling his own hair, resulting in the impression of a very sissy man or a very manly transvestite. Jyuushirou coughed into his tea and had to flip his hair to his back in fear of wetting it. He scratched his head a little and couldn't help but think that Shunsui had an overly active imagination.

"And the book-dropping trick? That is pure classic! I think my efforts have paid off, Jyuu!"

"How did all those constitute to her flirting with you?"

"Those are flirting tricks on last week's _Shinigami Women's Weekly_."

"And you read those?"

"Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered. Sun-Tzu said that."

"I am going back to check on my subordinates. And I suggest you stay out of the way. Kaien always hid in my room whenever Miyako was in a bad mood."

"Oh, Jyuu. You will never understand the hardship of a man in love."

Jyuushirou sighed and left Shunsui to his devices.

Meanwhile, Nanao had escaped to her quarters and was busy on the phone.

"I don't think it worked very well……"

"What do you mean, it didn't work very well? Since when have my flirting skills failed me?"

"Well……they may work for you, Rangiku-san, but……"

"C'mon, admit it, Ukitake Taichou did notice you, didn't he?"

"Yes, but……"

"See, Nanao, my flirting skills never fails. Why else do you think I am the regular correspondent of _Shinigami Women's Weekly?_"


	4. Wrath of Women, Mind of Men

**Author's Note:** Well…..that mention of Ukitake seemed to have given this story of drabble an actual plot. Well then, read on! grins

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

"Jyuu! Look at this! What do you have to say for yourself?" An extremely disgruntled Kyoraku Shunsui slammed down the latest copy of _Shinigami Women's Weekly_ on Ukitake Jyuushirou's desk, spilling blotches of ink everywhere.

"I told you not to read that trash already, haven't I?" Jyuushirou replied without even looking up. Today was one of the few days where he felt much better and could move about without feeling that suffocating rush of blood igniting in his windpipes. Such a tranquil afternoon would only have to be disrupted so rudely by his frantic friend of a hopeless romantic.

"Look at this! Eighth Division Fukutaichou All Set For Cutie Jyuu! Bonus inside: How to get your own Prince Charming!"

"Your point is……?"

"Jyuu! Don't you understand? My own fukutaichou! Falling for another man! That is unacceptable! What about my reputation? It's perilously hanging over the cliff, THE CLIFF!"

"Sit down, Sui. And pour yourself some tea." Jyuushirou placed a cup gently before his friend and passed him a tiny pot.

Shunsui snorted. And then he chuckled. And then he burst out laughing.

"Well, Cutie-Jyuu, you can still make up to me."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you took my woman!"

"Sui, Nanao-san was never _yours_ to begin with."

"She is as good as mine. Now listen up." Shunsui leaned in and whispered to Jyuushirou in an undertone, but his restlessness was apparent.

"No way!' Jyuushirou could feel the cough coming up again. So much for it receding. He really treasured those rare, precious moments of peace. Coughing and smearing the blood on white clothes Sentaro and Kiyone had prepared for him, he shook his head agitatedly. "No, Sui, as much as I love you, I will _never_ agree to such a sacrifice. Do you have any idea how many of my subordinates will jump off the Division Building if you do such a thing?"

"Too late!" Shunsui waved his hand and left, leaving behind a shattered Jyuushirou, coughing and dabbing cold water at his temples. Somehow he had a feeling this was only part of this complicated, never-ending web of bothers, bothers and more bothers. Sighing, he motioned for Kiyone and Sentaro, who, for once, rather quietly carried their taichou back to his room before bickering again, the moment their toes were out of his door. _Men in love are crazy……_

Jyuushirou knew nothing about the women.

A distressed Ise Nanao was taking shelter in the Tenth Division Office while an extremely annoyed Hitsugaya Toushirou stood at the door of his Division cursing at the large mob of shinigami women protesting against their newest public enemy number one: the woman who played between two most desirable men in Sereitei after Kuchiki Byakuya: Kyoraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jyuushirou.

"You bitch! I was ready to take care of my Jyuu-Jyuu for life!"

"Leave Shunsui alone!"

"Make your choice, you bitch!"

"Ladies. If you do not leave my Division Office now, none of you will be able to say Jyuushirou or Shunsui ever. Again."

The ladies took hint when they say more than the hilt of Hyourinmaru and scampered away, breaking into small groups and marched around Sereitei with their signboards and loudhailers. The wrath of infatuated women cannot be underestimated. An anxious Nanao apologized profusely to a stoic Hitsugaya taichou.

"Matsumoto."

"Yes, Taichou?"

"Fix it."

"Taichou, how did you know it was me?" Matsumoto Rangiku had conveniently embraced, or rather, sandwiched her taichou's pale cheeks between her enormous ventral protrusions.

"_Matsumoto_."

"Oh, Taichou, don't be so serious! Nanao-san is a woman in love, we must make _allowances_!"

Nanao positively looked like she wanted to flee from the room, but the angry congregation roaming outside made her think twice.

"What shall I do, Rangiku-san?"

"Well……why don't you stay over here tonight? And we will wait to see if it has taken any effect?"

"Are you sure……this will work?"

"When have my skills with men ever failed me? Ask the _little _man here!"

"MATSUMOTO!"

"All right, Taichou."

A Hell Butterfly had fluttered into the room, flitting up and down around Rangiku, who picked it up.

"Good Morning, this is a Sereitei Press Release from the First Sereitei News Station: Ukitake Jyuushirou, Taichou of the Thirteenth Division of the Gotei Thirteen had announced earlier today in response to the declaration of love from Ise Nanao, Fukutaichou of the Eighth Division of the Gotei Thirteen on _Shinigami Women's Weekly_ that he is currently not interested in a relationship and that his preference had always been in Kuchiku Byakuya, Twenty-Eighth Head of the Great Noble Clan Kuchiki and Taichou of the Sixth Division of the Gotei Thirteen. Thank you."

Then the Hell Butterflies fluttered away in equal serenity, leaving Sereitei in a state of Sturm und Drang. Wails, distraught wails. Murmurs, deprecating murmurs. Frowns, confused frowns. Nanao was frozen in her seat, her eyes wide open in shock, staring at her self-proclaimed love pundit, who was equally surprised at the stake taken.

"What have you done, Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya Toushirou knew better than to meddle with women's love affairs, but this concerned not only three of his fellow captains, as well as the entire Sereitei. Another meeting summoned by General Yamamoto-Stuffy-Ass would be inevitable.

"Well," Matsumoto shrugged off the irrevocable that had taken place."At least it meant that our plan had worked. Better than expected."

Nanao could only nod meekly. Her Taichou……her taichou actually went as far as that for her…..did it mean that he……?

Nanao's head was full of questions that night as Rangiku smothered her, snuggling up next to her face. She merely looked up, out of the window, searching the moonlight for an answer.

Matsumoto Rangiku had a satisfied smile on her face. Was it because she had once again successfully twirled men around her fingers, ever so artfully?

Nanao could only wonder.

* * *

Ambiguity is so absolutely the most intriguing thing. More to come soon!


	5. After Dark

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

Ise Nanao was sick. Very sick.

She had awoken Matsumoto Rangiku in the middle of the night, breaking out in cold sweat, shivering and sobbing in complete misery. It became so bad that Matsumoto decided to send Nanao back to her Division under the tender loving care of the patient's own taichou. "Shunsui, please take care of her." Matsumoto had landed from shunpo before Kyouraku Shunsui, her eyes no longer lackadaisical. She knew that her Sake Buddy would never let her down when it came to women. And so with that, she returned, disappearing into the mist of the rainy night.

Shunsui had been worried. Actually, he had been gloating over the Hell Butterfly announcement all afternoon. Until Ukitake Jyuushirou refused to speak to him because his division officers, especially Sentarou and Kiyone, were completely soaking in despondency and had refused to do any work because they were too busy moaning over their taichou's sexual orientation.

"But, Jyuu, there is nothing wrong with being homosexual."

"Tell that to my Division. Besides, you abused the Hell Butterflies. You know Yama-sama isn't going to be pleased."

"Old Man Yama is the least of my worries. Nanao hasn't returned."

"I wouldn't be surprised."

Shunsui was beginning to wonder if this little love venture had gone a little too far. Perhaps he had been too ardent in his woman-chasing. _Nah. That's not possible._ Like Rangiku-san always said, "All's fair in love and war." And since being a shinigami meant that he had to do both, he might as well declare his war on love. And there was Nanao, lying in his arms, moaning in pain. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty and he gently placed her down on the tatami and wondered what should be done next.

Shunsui had always been the one taken care off. He was capable of many things, but little things like taking care of people had never been on his list of capabilities. He took off his flowery kimono, took off the taichou haori and placed it on Nanao. And then put the flowery kimono back over his black shinigami uniform. He would never do without the kimono. _Taichou……Pink actually doesn't……look that bad on you._ She had told him that. And he never took it off ever since.

The candle in his room flickered. Suddenly, the normally composed Shunsui became a little shifty. His entire Division was asleep. Sereitei was asleep. And there he was, shut in a dimly lit room alone with his object of desire, dripping wet, limp and unconscious before him. Now, Shunsui was never a bad man, but this amount of debauching placed before him made it extremely arduous to keep his mind straight and head clear.

The sound of rain grew to a stormy drumming that beat in sync with Shunsui's maddening heart. Nanao's heavy breathing resonated with every fibre of man's instinct embedded within that pink kimono. Shunsui shifted uncomfortably as he sat next to a recumbent Nanao, wondering if he should just lie down and sleep.

_No, Shunsui. That would be wrong._ He told himself sternly. How could such a thought even cross his mind! Shunsui stood up and began pacing around his room nervously. The candle light flickered again. The room was becoming warmer and warmer. Or perhaps it was just him? Shunsui reached down and felt Nanao's forehead. It had become a lot cooler. And then he noticed.

He noticed that Nanao's clothes were soaking wet even though Rangiku had used her body to try cover up. He sighed. The Gods were obviously testing him. Should he help Nanao change into some dry clothes? Or should he leave her in the current state? Shunsui was afraid to even broach the topic of discussion, but the increasing look of agony on Nanao's face urged him to consider his options.

Nanao was sick. Very sick. As her taichou, Shunsui had the responsibility to take care of his subordinates. But……undressing Nanao? A shiver ran down his spine. Would people think that he took advantage of her? Would he? And what would Nanao think if she had woken up in dry clothes but felt completely violated?

_What am I going to do?_ Shunsui paced about his room agitatedly. He wished he could ask Jyuushirou for some advice now, but could not, because his best friend was in bed sound asleep, and he really needed the sleep, too. Shunsui found his hands sweating. He glanced at Nanao's cringing face. _She must be having a hard time……_

He decided. He decided that he would just do the right thing. _Be a man, Sui_. He told himself. Glancing elsewhere, he reached towards Nanao's collar. Very gingerly, he proceeded to remove her wet clothes. Then, by accident, his finger brushed past her collarbone. Immediately, Shunsui retracted and jumped away from her, his breath hard and his heart thumping. _No, I can't do it._

Maybe, just maybe. Maybe he had done the wrong thing. Maybe what Nanao needed was Jyuushirou. He would almost know what to do. He would treat her with care and respect. Shunsui sighed. Maybe he really wasn't the right man.

Suddenly, Nanao grabbed his hand. She was whimpering, she was sobbing in her sleep. "Taichou……taichou……"

"It's OK, Nanao-chan. I am right here." Shunsui's expressions softened. In a time like this, Nanao just needed a friend. Wasn't that who he had been all along? _Ok, no more bad thoughts, Sui._ He patted Nanao's head and held her in his arms. He watched the moonlight forming shadows on his door and wondered if this was how it felt like to take care of somebody.

"Taichou……taichou……" Nanao's grip on him tightened. Shunsui told himself, he would never, ever let go.

_That's good, Sui. You are doing very well. Don't let your mind wonder anywhere else._

The candle flickered again. A strong gust of wind swished past.

The candle flame was swiped out. Now, Kyouraku Shunsui was in a pitch dark room, alone, with a pretty, single woman in his arms.

_Uh-oh._


	6. Utter Fracas and Wayward Plans

**Author's Note:** This is a short chapter, have fun and enjoy! There's more to come……

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

"Serves you right."

"C'mon, you known you love me, that's why you came to see me."

"No, it's because I can no longer enter any part of Sereitei without people pointing at me whispering gay, homo and Boyfriend-thief."

"Boyfriend-thief?"

"I assume those women refer to their Bya-kun."

Kyoraku Shunsui snorted. "Owwww. My back."

It was Ukitake Jyuushirou's turn to snort. "Serves you right for making my popularity position on the _Shinigami Women's Weekly_ drop beyond the top ten."

"I thought you said It was trash?"

Jyuushirou jabbed Shunsui in the ribs, causing him to yell out in pain again. Most people in Sereitei assumed that Shunsui was refusing to leave his Division due to the trauma induced by the release of truths that his fukutaichou was in love with his best friend whom was in turn in love with Soul Society's Sexiest Man This Century, voted in the _Shinigami Women's Weekly_. Actually, Shunsui couldn't care less about what Sereitei thought of him, as long as what Jyuushirou and Nanao thought of him was fine.

Nanao had been a lot warmer to him ever since Shunsui sprained his back that night holding her still for more than 8 hours. She had been comatose, and Shunsui would have become a marble sculpture had Jyuushirou not sensed something wrong and dropped by to rescue the shivering Nanao and stiffened Shunsui. She supposed she would have to take care of Shunsui now that he had injured himself because of her, and was completely immobile. Her eyes drifted to where she tied her fukutaichou's armband. That was where Shunsui had held her, long and tight, and the feeling still lingered. And yet that was where Jyuushirou had held her when he came over, and tucked her in to a warm, soft bed. It haunted her over and over.

Matsumoto Rangiku had miscalculated.

She had thought that Ise Nanao was completely perfervid and dedicated to this man who flirted with her on a daily basis, and simply wanted a plan to get her taichou to fall in love with her. She hadn't thought that Nanao harboured a secret passion for Ukitake taichou as well. Confusion shrouded Nanao's forehead. What was the matter with her? She had to focus on the task ahead.

"Nanao-san! I need a drink!" Shunsui called out in his jolly voice.

Nanao sighed and brought water to his bed, lifting it up to his lips. He drank and gave her a wistful smile, and lay back down gingerly, afraid to move his torn back muscles.

"Sorry, taichou……"

"Aye, don't be so serious. Besides, you know I liked holding you."

"Taichou!"

"Ah, Nanao-san. Would you be so kind as to help me wipe a way the perspiration on my back? It is really getting warm here, isn't it, this blazing summer?"

"All…all right, taichou."

Nanao sighed inwardly and stood over her taichou, reaching over with a towel to dab at his drenched back. Shunsui couldn't help but snort to himself in satisfaction as she unknowingly pressed her underdeveloped blossom against his face. At least, he was snorting until he felt a shortness of breath.

"Na…Na…O….can't breathe……" Shunsui struggled slightly, and immediately Nanao bounced off, blushing to her neck and looking extremely uncomfortable.

"I'm bored, Nanao-san. Let's play Rock-Paper-Scissors."

"OK, taichou. But I am not taking off anything this time."

"That's all right, Nanao-san." Shunsui winked, "Every time you lose, you have to give me a kiss."

"Taichou!"

"C'mon, Nanao-san."

Nanao sighed and succumbed to her taichou's request. She secretly crossed her fingers and hoped that President Kusajishi would save her again.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors!"

"Aha! I win again! Do the honours, Nanao-san!" Shunsui grinned from cheek to cheek and held out his face victoriously. Nanao covertly cursed at her own haplessness and cringed at the sight of her taichou's eager, upheld face. "This old, stupid pervert," She thought, "And yet why do I always still love him so?" She leaned in quite slowly, hoping that time will wear away her uneasiness and fuzziness. Their skin were so close, breaths so heavy, the tension in the air had tightened to its breaking point. Nanao's face was as pink as her lips. "Why am I blushing so much? This is purely out of obligation." She castigated herself as the place around her armband grew warm and cozy again.

Shunsui had grown to enjoy Rock-Paper-Scissors. "I told you it was a fun game, Sui-Sui." Yachiru's voice rang in his ears. "Yes, indeed it is a wonderful game." He thought to himself rather merrily. He cracked open an eyelid to peek at Nanao's approaching visage, so pretty, so lovely, so shy, so _kawaii_.

Then it happened. Nanao lost her balance and fell over, smacking Shunsui hard not on the cheek, but right, square and fair- on the lips. Shunsui quickly got up and helped a startled Nanao up, both of them extremely red in the face. He only wanted to poke fun at her……

"Are you all right, Nanao-san?"

"Hai, taichou…"

"That's good."

"Wait a second. Taichou, I thought you have sprained your back and could not stand at all?"

"Well, I seemed to have had a miraculous healing. Amazing, isn't it-"

SMACK.

Before Shunsui could finish his sentence, Nanao had awarded him with the hardest whack she could summon with a fan and fled the room, tears streaming down her cheeks. So it was true……Taichou only wanted to make fun of her……and now Ukitakte Taichou would know that she had done _that_ with taichou and wouldn't want her either……

"That was a stupid thing to do."

"Yeah, Sui-Sui was dumb."

Yachiru and Rangiku both poked through Shunsui's window and commented absent-mindedly.

"Don't say it like it's none of your business. Come help me up, I'm tangled in the kimono."

Yachiru hopped in through the window and helped with Shunsui while Rangiku strolled off, wondering how her friend Nanao was doing, and wondering if she had actually helped.

"I helped Nanao to win over her taichou by trying to make him jealous with that article on Ukitake taichou, then Shunsui tried to win Nanao back with the Hell Butterfly announcement. So now we are square, everybody should be happy isn't it?" she mumbled to herself and smiled. Yeah, everything was finally falling into place. She put her hands behind her back and whistled.

"Matsumoto fukutaichou."

Correction: somebody still wasn't happy.

Rangiku spun around to face an expressionless but dangerous Kuchiki Byakuya.


	7. Unnecessary Feelings

**Author's Note**: Well, as I was thinking and planning for this one, I wondered if it's gonna get out of hand. But then, there is no way I would leave out my beloveds from all this fun, right? Enjoy!

P.S. I was watching the ByuMyu Live Bankai Show Code 001 yesterday. Rocks! Wish I could watch it live.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

Matsumoto Rangiku could feel her knees slightly wobbling under the pressure of the strong reiatsu blasting at her. Her palms were beginning to sweat and she was no longer her usual ebullient self. She gulped and tried to catch her breath as a stoic but angry Kuchiki Byakuya slowly advanced on her, step by step, step by step.

Kuchiki Byakuya was one man Rangiku would never mess around with, much less toy with. She knew her limits, she knew that this man was beyond her artful grip, and she tried to stay out of his vincinity. "Stupid Shunsui……he had to drag Byakuya-Noble-Ass into this." She sighed and flipped her amber hair, allowing each strand to sparkle in the Sereitei summer sun. Each step Byakuya took was stately, his hair fluttering in the slight, heated breeze. His eyes were austere, very deep, and very dark. "And very sexy," Rangiku thought, "Although this may not be the best time."

"How may I help you, Kuchiki taichou?" She tried to conceal her uneasiness and gritted teeth as the reiatsu becomes almost unbearable.

"Do you know, Matsumoto fukutaichou, that Rukia has been ill these few days? She couldn't eat and sleep, because she is under the false impression that her taichou had certain romantic tendencies towards me?"

"So…so it is. I am very sorry for Rukia-san. But, Ku-kuchiki taichou, why are you telling me this?"

"Matsumoto fukutaichou, you are the sole correspondent of _Shinigami Women's Weekly_ in Gotei Thirteen."

"Aye," Rangiku slowly found her husky voice and wanton eyes back. "Kuchiki taichou, how could I be associated with such complicated business?" She purred, wondering if the abyss that is her cleavage would salvage her from this precariously furious man before her, so she began twirling her hair quite furiously.

"I don't remember you being this self-effacing." Byakuya squinted his eyes at this particularly troublesome woman before him. The way they were standing and speaking, if the content was not heard, would have resembled an extremely flirtatious couple.

And that, unfortunately, was exactly what Abarai Renji had perceived as he peeked from behind the pillar. "Oh no," he mumbled to himself, "Taichou _is_ with Rangiku-san. I swore that I would be disinterested……but I promised Hisagi-san……" He scratched his head and observed further, his heart racing and the lump in his throat distending as Byakuya edged closer to Rangiku, and from where he was standing, he could see Rangiku's eyes twinkling into a smile. A smile he had seen many times, though never employed on him. It was Rangiku's "Come with me, Baby" smile.

"I must tell senpai!" And he dashed off to inform a to-be-despondent Hisagi Shuuhei of the latest developments between Rangiku and his taichou.

While Renji was dashing off, a tiny pink figure had dashed off in the opposite direction. "Sui-sui! Sui-sui!" Kusajishi Yachiru hopped up the Eighth Division Office rooftop and found Kyoraku Shunsui recumbent, lazily speaking to his fukutaichou. "Sui-sui! Big-Booby is in trouble! Byakushi is going to EAT HER UP!" She grabbed Shunsui's sleeve and hopped up and down, more excited than anything else. Ise Nanao lifted her spectacles. "I assume you will be departing, taichou."

"It is all right, Nanao-san, you may stay here, I will be quick." He winked and shunpo away with Yachiru leading the way, leaving behind a lonely Nanao on the roof, watching the stationary sky. Everything was so banal, everything was so wrong, everything was so _screwed up_. She thought to herself angrily, "So taichou had cared about Rangiku-san. I knew it; I knew all along that his heart was never meant for me." She glanced down at her own hands. "Who was I to even hope for something in the first place?" She must not cry, she mustn't.

"Nanao-san? Have you taken a liking to sitting on the rooftop as well?" An all too familiar voice asked. Nanao's heart thumped. She quickly wiped the tears brimming her eyes.

"No, not at all." She turned about as a tuft of white hair appeared at the edge of the ladder.

"Then, pray tell, Nanao-san, why are you sitting up there alone?"

"Ukitake taichou……" Nanao stood up as Ukitake Jyuushirou arrived on the roof, his countenance full of concern for her. _For me, he is concerned about me._ Nanao thought to herself, gratified.

"Nothing." She shook her head and smiled a little, pushing up her spectacles habitually. Much to her surprise and panic, Jyuushirou sat down and gestured for her to follow, her heart racing at the speed of shunpo.

"Well, why don't we wait here then? I came to look for Shunsui, and I suppose he would come back up here in a while."

"Hai, Ukitake taichou……" Nanao glanced down at her hands, the corner of her lips twitching ever so slightly. She clinched her fists so tightly that there were deep nail cuts in her white, slender palms.

"Where had he gone?" Jyuushirou asked. The cough had not troubled him today, and he was in a pretty decent mood. Time had slowly effaced the "Homosexual" incident and at least Kiyone and Sentarou were back to being functional.

"Tai-taichou went to help with Matsumoto-san."

"I see."

Nanao wondered why Jyuushirou wouldn't say anything else. She wondered why he didn't ask about her, why he didn't ask about Shunsui and her, why he didn't even look at her. Her heart was all jumbled up with confusion, and sitting so close next to Jyuushirou was not helping at all. She gazed silently at his white, long hair gently swaying in the sun, and suddenly had an urge to stroke it. "No, that would've been an irrevocable mistake." She admonished herself.

Finally, Jyuushirou turned to her. "Oh, by the way, Nanao-san."

"Yes, Ukitake taichou?" Nanao glanced up hopefully.

"Could you do me a favour?"

"Yes, Ukitake taichou?"

"Later when you are quite free, please do help me pass this along to Hitsugaya taichou." Jyuushirou grinned and pulled out a giant pink lollipop from his haori.

"Hai, Ukitake taichou. I will proceed now."

Jyuushirou merely nodded at Nanao with much gratitude as she departed from the roof, continuing to wait patiently for Shunsui's return.

He did not even ask her to stay.

Had Nanao been disillusioned? Had she been deluding herself all these while? No, she was sure, that Jyuushirou had always cared for her, more than he did any other woman. And Taichou……she was almost certain too, that her taichou deemed her as more than a woman to be flamboyant with.

Had she been wrong all this while?

Or was her mind turning towards somewhere else?

_Why am I having these feelings? Feelings are unnecessary for a shinigami_.

"Now I know why." Nanao muttered to herself as she approached the Tenth Division Office. What she saw up ahead struck a chord deep in her heart. She walked up gingerly.

Matsumoto was cheerfully talking to Shunsui, who had just talked Byakuya away. Yachiru was bouncing up and down with them, saying how she would go bother "Byakushi" later. "They look like one happy family……"Nanao thought to herself, watching Shunsui's tall handsome figure, Rangiku's wavy, perfect figure, and cute little Yachiru. She could feel the tide of tears coming again. What was wrong with her? She had turned into a soft, pathetic ordinary woman. This was unbecoming of a fukutaichou.

Nanao bowed her head to appear inconspicuous and slipped into the Division Office to find Hitsugaya Toushirou observing her very closely.

"Hitsugaya taichou, this is a delivery from Ukitake Taichou."

"Please, Ise fukutaichou, convey to him that I no longer wish to indulge in his particular gifts."

"Hai, Hitsugaya taichou."

"And-"

"Yes, Hitsugaya taichou?"

"You think too much."


	8. Nightmares Interweaved

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

_Matsumoto Rangiku was shivering in her bed, she quivered and pulled the blanket closer to herself, wondering why there were such strong gusts of chilling wind blowing in her room. It was strange, though, because the moonlight shining dimly into her room was suddenly shadowed. With cumbersome eyes, Rangiku forced herself to identify the shadow at her window. Her eyes went wide open. _

_It was Kuchiki Byakuya. There was something different about him. Perhaps it was the way his eyes were glowing a nefarious magenta, perhaps it was the way his reiatsu sent cold shivers down Rangiku's back, perhaps it was the way his look gave her slithering, sinister sensations all over, perhaps it was the way he made her cringe. Perhaps, above all, it was the fact that the Head of the great Kuchiki clan and Sixth Division taichou was standing, so still, so bizarre, on her window sill, in the middle of a very silent night. _

_Rangiku turned around and sat up. "What…what are you doing here, Kuchiki taichou?" She let out a surprised yelp as Byakuya flashed past her and the next moment she knew, she was lying back on the tatami with Byakuya pressed on top of her, gripping her cold, marble-like hands. Byakuya ran a finger along her baffled cheeks. "I have been waiting for this for long." He grinned. His breath was heavy and inches from her. Rangiku could not believe it. This could not be the righteous, lawful Kuchiki Byakuya she thought she had known. It simply could not be. And yet that voice……the voice was so familiar. _

_Rangiku summoned her strength. "What are you doing? Get off me!" She struggled, but the strength of Byakuya overwhelmed her. Rangiku shut her eyes tight as the heavy breathing became louder and more rapid. Byakuya's face was inches from hers and he had quietly slipped a hand in between the collar of her haori. Rangiku was stunned and immobile. What was happening? "Taichou! HITSUGAYA TAICHOU!" She screamed and shrieked, only to have Byakuya silence her with a forceful pair of lips over hers. She moaned, unable to make clear thoughts out of her chaotic mind. _

"_Rangiku-san." Byakuya said. "Rangiku-san." His voice……had become strangely feminine. What on earth was going on? Matsumoto Rangiku was frightened as the weight over her suddenly lifted off. _"Rangiku-san!" _Kuchiki Byakuya was actually……a woman?_

* * *

"Rangiku-san." A cold hand touched her face gently, rather unlike the rowdiness that she had just been put through. "Rangiku-san." The voice was slightly maternal, slightly breathless, and very much still familiar to Matsumoto Rangiku. She opened her eyes.

"Nanao-san?" So it had been a dream. She was glad it had been just an awful dream, for Kuchiki Byakuya was one man she wouldn't even dream of being involved with. Oh wait, she just did. That had been one egregious horror, despite being kind of sexy in a twisted, _way_ twisted manner. The encounter with that handsomely dangerous man in the day had driven her nerves and imagination wanton. Even though his didactic presence had basically rid Rangiku of every bit of her sensual fantasies while she was speaking to him. Or rather, while she had been lectured by him in front of her own Division Office. Byakuya had merely droned on and on and on, very unlike the usual succinct man he had been, instead very much resembling a priest. A sexy priest at that. "This is what happens when a man plays parent to his younger sister." Rangiku had thought, disappointed.

"Rangiku-san, have you heard a single word I had just said?" Ise Nanao gripped her shoulders so hard that her nails sank into Rangiku's shoulders. "Sure, sure I did, Nanao. But it would be nice if you repeat it." She grinned at Nanao, recovering now from that explicit dream of hers. Nanao sighed and sat down next to Rangiku, her voice shaking along with the cold breeze of the night. "I think my feelings have caused enough troubles."

"Right they did."

"So, I have decided that I shall leave them all behind now."

"Leave them behind?"

"Yes, Rangiku-san. I thank you for your help, but I no longer wish to meddle with the human notions of romance. From this moment on, I shall be a new woman."

"That's great, Nanao! Playing cool is the best way to get the man!"

"That's not what I-"

"Yes indeed! Good luck with that!" Rangiku gave Nanao a completely blissful grin, which gradually faded from her countenance as her eyes became lead-heavy and drooped downwards. Before Nanao could open her mouth to utter anther word, Rangiku had lay back on the tatami and was snoring soundly again. It was no use talking to her; Nanao thought to herself and left the room through the window, into the dark street of Sereitei, glancing at Rangiku's happy sleeping face with much longing and melancholy. Perhaps, perhaps she had been right. Her presence in Sereitei was ever so tenuous; it wouldn't have made a difference.

"Goodnight, Rangiku-san." Nanao whispered and left, as silently and quickly as she had come.

* * *

"Matsumoto." Rangiku wanted to scream. Wouldn't anybody leave her alone in this bizarre night? "What is it? Let me sleep."

"MATSUMOTO." Rangiku bolted up, her forehead colliding with the jaw of an annoyed head hovering over her face. Her eyes gleamed with mischief.

"Taichou, have you recently developed a fancy to watching me sleep?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Get up quickly, there is an emergency." Hitsugaya Toushirou left her room, rubbing his sore jaw, his aquamarine eyes trying to contain the tears that had formed in them uncontrollably. Matsumoto had a very hard forehead.

Rangiku glanced after her taichou, still not entirely somber. An emergency, he had said……what could it be? This entirely night had been nothing but the strangest happenings, what else could be happening? Running a hand through her wavy amber hair, she lazily dressed herself and proceeded to her taichou's office.

"Good morning, taichou." She grinned, bowing to the little figure sitting sternly at the desk. "What is the emergency you were speaking of?"

"Matsumoto, please try to remember, when was the last time you saw Ise fukutaichou?"

"Nanao-san? She came into my room last night."

"What?" Toushirou slammed the table and bolted up, grabbing a hell butterfly to send a message. His eyebrows were knitted tightly together and anxiety tensed up the room. Rangiku's grin had disappeared. Had something happen to Nanao? What had she said? Something about leaving behind her feelings……Goodness.

"Taichou! What had happened to Nanao?" Rangiku held her hands against his desk, staring straight into his serious eyes. Toushirou said, in the most grievous tone she had ever heard, "Matsumoto, Ise fukutaichou's reiatsu had disappeared from Soul Society."

"What do you mean, disappeared?"

"We are still trying to detect any trace of it. The Secret Mobile Corps had been at work since early this morning when Kyoraku raised the alarm."

"What had happened?"

"She left a letter to her taichou. Matsumoto, she ran away."

"Ran AWAY?" Rangiku could not believe her ears. Her friend, the rigid, uptight Ise Nanao-ran away? _C'est impossible._

"Matsumoto, you had been her confidant as Kyoraku had mentioned to me. Could you think of any reason why she would want to leave? And where she could have gone?"

Rangiku glanced down at her hands with contrition. Reasons there were plenty. She should have listened to Nanao when she visited her in the night and stopped her. It had been her fault. She should have stopped Nanao. She should have listened to her.

Places there were only one.

"I will go, taichou."

Matsumoto Rangiku bowed and left, searching her memory.

_I know you are there, Nanao. _

_I am sorry._


	9. Dissonance without Resolution

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

"I will go, taichou. I will bring her back." Matsumoto Rangiku said, her voice shaking slightly with an artless concern unlike her usual flirtatious self. The earnestness was wasted on Hitsugaya Toushirou.

"You are not going anywhere."

"But Taichou, I know where she is! I can find her!"

"Take her to the cell." Toushirou turned his back on her and spoke tersely, gazing absent-mindedly out of the window, his face austere, and his aquamarine eyes fixed on a leaf falling, spiraling to the ground outside in the autumn-like wind. "Take her away." He repeated himself, and a few Tenth Division officers rushed up to gently tug Rangiku away, her eyes full of injury and misty questions as she was dragged away. She had too many questions: Why wasn't she allowed to go find Nanao? Why was she to be locked up in a cell? What had she done wrong?

OK. She had done a lot of wrong. But she did mean well. She knew that Kyoraku Shunsui did love Ise Nanao, and she did him. And that they were both to obstinate to accidentally blurt it out on impulse, and so she supposed she would give them a push in each others' direction. Rangiku loved happy endings, and she meant well. She just hadn't meant for her solutions and their reactions to be this soap-opera-dramatic. Now she was caught in this inscrutable mess, discarded by her much trusted taichou. She couldn't understand why Toushirou had to censure her to this extend. Thoughts swarmed Rangiku's mind as she watched the little beam of light passing through the windows, her usually pompous hair now limp and weary, her shoulders slouched in dejection.

It was all too strange. Surely they did not expect her to sit in the cell with a docile look on the face like any other ordinary _human_ would. She was at least a shinigami. Rangiku wanted to fight, she had much contentious spirit in her to fight for her friend. She had pretty much put Nanao in a fix, but everybody knew that Rangiku was a good friend.

"And so was Taichou." Rangiku bowed her head and began to ruminate over whether she had wasted her trust on this boy over so many years. She wanted, she really wanted to remain loyal and do his bidding, but stopping her from saving her friend did not seem like a Hitsugaya Toushirou thing too. It was arduous to keep her faith in Toushirou while not feel contrite over the loss of Nanao. Where could she be? Why wouldn't he let her go? "Taichou……taichou……" Rangiku placed her two hands on the hard ground of the cell, it was cold, a cold that was conveyed straight to the depths of her severed heart. She could feel the confused tears swelling up in her. She frowned. _They always left her, they always abandoned her, and never told her where they were heading. One by one, they left……_

Matsumoto Rangiku did not raise her trembling hands to fight, but instead to gently dab at the tear at the corner of her eyes. She didn't know what to do.

"Tai-taichou……" An officer had refused to remove himself from Toushirou's gloomy residence. "Is it necessary to……Matsumoto fukutaichou……?" An icy glare reduced the officer to a quivering heap of lost courage that scampered out of his office. Toushirou sighed and continued his gaze out of the window, his mind a complete blank, except questions that attacked him from this side and that side, waiting to decimate his entire sanity. Was he being too harsh? Was he right in agreeing to _it_? Had he gotten himself into something extremely undesirable? Why was he feeling this need to be absolved……?

"I shouldn't have agreed to this……" Toushirou mumbled to himself, sighing deeply. "Get her some warm sake." He ordered a few officers, who were surprised at this allowance, but raised no questions.

* * *

Kyoraku Shunsui was going insane. He had just lost his beloved fukutaichou, and was recumbent on his rooftop, watching the shrouded sky with dazed eyes, his mind full of words and sentences from that letter. _Why did you have to go, Nanao-san? I will find you._ Shunsui wasn't sure what to make of this anymore. How-had he gone too far? Had he pushed her too far, that she could no longer find anything to ameliorate his presence? He chuckled to himself a little, because in this entire world, Ise Nanao was probably the first and only one to make Shunsui lose his cool. He really, truly had no idea what to do.

He cringed his face a little, imagining that Nanao was right now standing behind him again, one hand on her spectacles menacingly glaring at him, the other smacking down on his head forcefully. He waited, and waited, but the smack never came. Shunsui's eyes possessed an anomalous forlorn tinge to their shine. Nanao leaving……the fact was still too elliptical and glaring to be understood. What was the point of searching for her? The fact remained that she had left him, deserted him, _abandoned_ him……why?

Shunsui laid back, his eyes still and not blinking, as though taking in the world, yet as though not seeing anything at all.

Ukitake Jyuushirou approached his friend gingerly, not knowing what to say to him. After all, his name was mentioned in the letter, the letter that drove Shunsui mad, the one that made Shunsui smile in one moment, and frown the next, ebullient one instant, and enervated the next. He really wondered if Shusui could make it through this. Jyuushirou was beginning to realize how much Ise Nanao meant to Shunsui. _Then why didn't you just say so? That would make everything so much simpler._ Jyuushirou sighed and rubbed his hands together, coughing a little. He tried to put on a smooth countenance.

"Sui……" He stood on the ladder, not sure what to make of the melancholic pink-haori before him, so despondent that not a word of sense would enter that straw-hatted head. Had this gone too far? Had everything gone haywire? Jyuushirou had to bit his lips hard to eschew from coughing. Sighing, he sat down and opened his mouth, unable to broach the subject. "Sui……"

"Will you take care of her, Jyuu, when she comes back?"

"I……"

"Promise me, Jyuu, that you will love her, love her like she wanted you to……"

"No, Sui……"

Shunsui rolled over and glanced at Jyuushirou, not knowing, all of a sudden, what to say to his friend of centuries. Slowly, he sat up, looking down, fumbling with his sleeve. Shunsui looked up at Jyuushirou, "She's not coming back, is she?"

"Sorry, Sui. I really cannot tell."

"She loved me? Did she?"

"She did……"

"But, she loved you too, Jyuu, didn't she?"

"I……" Ukitake Jyuushirou had never been this lost with words before. He glanced at his friend, with the tilted straw hat and sunken cheeks, and wondered if Shunsui was going to remain in this state. He smiled his most manageable smile, "C'mon, Sui. Don't give up yet. We must continue the search."

A tug on his sleeve made Jyuushirou sit back. Shunsui was staring at his own hands, with one grabbing onto his friend. They sat there, reminiscing all their days, all their encounters with each other, with the world, and with Nanao. At times like this, it was better to be frank. Everybody knew that Shunsui loved Nanao, and that Jyuushirou loved everybody around him. They sat there side by side, watching the clouds slowly crawl across the limitless sky. A desultory afternoon did pick Shunsui up a little, but excessive time for rumination gave him opportunities for his mind to wander to places that stung, stung like a bee, right to the core of his heart. Jyuushirou patted his friend, and stood up to leave.

"Kyoraku Taichou, Ukitake Taichou!" An Eighth Division officer nervously climbed up the ladder. "Please do proceed down to the office immediately, urgent news awaits."

"What is it? Why can't they dispatch a Hell Butterfly?" Shunsui asked, raising an eyebrow, his heart racing quicker and quicker.

"There is an item to be presented, sir." The Officer bowed, clearly perspiring not from movement, but from nerve. Jyuushirou's eyes met Shunsui's and they signaled for the item to be brought up. The officer left the item on the hard tiles lining the rooftop, and left the two taichous to their own devices. Jyuushirou's jaw nearly dropped. Anxiously, he glanced at Shunsui, who was looking at the object lackadaisically. Under the setting sun, the most handsome Kyoraku Shunsui suddenly resembled a bereft old man awaiting the sunset of his own life. He did not know what to say, so he chose not to pay any attention to it and pretended that it wasn't there.

"Sui……" A worried look appeared in Jyuushirou's white, smooth face as he picked up the Eighth Division fukutaichou armband, his heart beating fast and excruciatingly painful. Had something happened to Nanao? Why wasn't Shunsui responding? A choleric impulse rushed to his head and he bolted up, grabbing Shunsui's collar.

"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?" Jyuushirou shook Shunsui, hoping to wake him from his caprice. There was no response as Shunsui continued to gaze into the air in his reveries, while Jyuushirou collapsed in a fit of coughs. He glanced up at Shunsui. Had this man before him given up all hope? Had this man before him lost all of his heart?

Who was this Shunsui sitting before him?

Ah, a Shunsui without Nanao.


	10. Brink of Sanity, Edge of Otherwise

**Author's Note**: Have been away from my dear Sake King for so long, gosh do I miss him. Can't wait to get to the bottom of this missing Nanao. Where had she gone? Sorry for taking so long to update, have been terribly sick and too busy to recover. I love Bleach……still slightly deranged.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

"Tai-taichou?" A timid voice asked. It was a sweet, melodious, yet uncertain voice. Shunsui cracked open an eyelid indolently, but could not see a thing because his eyes were too cumbersome from all the crying and moaning he had done in the past few days. In his hand, he still clutched the Eighth Division fukutaichou armband that had been brought back as a horrible omen of the missing Nanao. Even his most appeasing friend Ukitake Jyuushirou could find no words of comfort at such an excruciating fact strewn at him like a large unavoidable fishing net trapping him in thick, strangling webs of black venomous lines. Shunsui wailed. It couldn't be true. For the first time in a week, he moved. He moved his arm up to the sky and tenderly traced the contour, the fragile, misty contour of the clouds. The next instant, the clouds had moved, leaving his single finger trembling slightly in the sky, ever so incongruous.

The sociable Shunsui had never felt so gauche in his entire life. He couldn't face his Nanao. And yet that voice, that voice that gives him hope, this hope that hangs him so precariously over the balance of sanity, was such a tempting thin thread that he almost believed it. It could not be Nanao. His lovely Nanao-chan was gone. Dissipated into the heavens and the earth. Vanished. Forever. Shunsui shuddered at the thought and fought the stream of manly tears welling up in him again. Matsumoto Rangiku always said that the tears a man shed over women were always manly. But Shunsui seriously wondered if this mourning he was carrying out had left him anymore dignity to stand and not be flouted as a shinigami and as a man in Sereitei. He couldn't care, really. It simply hurt too much.

Kyoraku Shunsui was getting annoyed. Why was Nanao calling his name? Shouldn't she be gone now that he had squandered away so much of his energy moaning and groaning over her absence?

"Tai-taichou……Here is your meal." The familiar figure bowed. Through his blurry vision, Shunsui saw. He saw that same pair of spectacled eyes, same delightful hair, same pair of hands carrying his meal. Shunsui thought he had been so starved and thirsty that mirages had been engendered. Maybe it was time for his swan's last song. Maybe Nanao had taken pity on him and decided to see him before he left this world for good. Shunsui could feel the intense pain gyrating along with his heart beat. It was so clear, so_ felt_ that he wished Nanao could hear it. So that she would know what kind of an irrevocable mistake she had committed. Now, she was standing next to him, holding his last meal, at least his feeble body could leave in peace. Shunsui could not believe his eyes. It really was Nanao! He rubbed his eyes clear just to be sure.

Reality was cruel.

"Go away."

"I am sorry, Kyoraku taichou." A bespectacled Hinamori Momo wearing a new hairstyle stumbled off the ladder looking rather dejected. Shunsui buried his face in his flowery hakama and quietly censured Jyuushirou for such a joke with his emotions. Dressing up Hinamori-san as Nanao to cheer him up! What a _LOUSY_ idea! Shunsui was abysmally despondent. "Why……is the sky so dark? Look at the clouds!" He exclaimed to himself, his mind completely transcending the realms of coherent thoughts. Shunsui had been ruminating over how he should stage his death. Sure enough, without Nanao, he was desperate and bereaved enough to leave this world. But he also wanted something flamboyant and showy that the world would remember him by. "Till death do us part," Shunsui inwardly whispered to his accustomed cynosure.

He had worked it all out in his mind as he lay immobile for the past few days. The epitome of all ways to die was, to him, to have Nanao hold him in her arms as he slowly and dramatically draw his last breath with a flourish after saving her heroically from the attacks of Aizen and his Arrancar army. In the nick of time. It had to be just in the nick of time, or it wouldn't be as cool. Shunsui grinned to himself. Then he frowned. It would never happen his way, because Nanao was nowhere to be found and it wasn't like Aizen would descend from his stupid throne just so that Shunsui could die in Nanao's arms. Besides, ever since he left, he hadn't been exactly interested in bespectacled women.

He sighed.

Nanao, oh Nanao, wherefore art thou, Nanao?

"Ukitake, how's Shunsui doing?" A weary Hitsugaya Toushirou asked, eyebags under the eyes of the prodigy indicated that something beyond the control of mere capabilities was bothering him.

"Completely wrong." Jyuushirou whispered back in a hushed tone, his eyes darting around suspiciously. "Hasn't eaten for days. And he mentioned something about Aizen and dying."

"Did Hinamori work?" Toushirou was beginning to glance around nervously as well, as though in fear someone would overhear their conversation. His aquamarine eyes dimmed a little when Jyuushirou shook his head regretfully in response. Matsumoto had not been eating. Or speaking to him. Or doing anything at all. Toushirou knew he had been unreasonable, but he had no idea it would take this long for Nanao to return. "Ukitake……how long will this take? I am afraid I cannot keep Matsumoto in there much longer."

Jyuushirou raised an eyebrow. "Has she tried breaking out?"

"No," Toushirou snarled, "That is exactly the problem, Ukitake. I…..Matsumoto……I don't know how much longer I can keep her in there……" He looked down. At least Jyuushirou understanding enough so the young captain would not have to explain himself further, and that saved him much chargin. How could he bring himself to say that he did not have the heart to watch his friend suffer in a cold dark cell? It wasn't becoming of a taichou to have such weak, ungrounded thoughts. And yet, all these, all these was simply too unreasonable. Toushirou tiptoed covertly and grabbed Jyuushirou's collar. With as much menace as he could summon, Toushirou growled, "This better not take long, Ukitake."

Jyuushirou watched unfazed as the young taichou stormed away, leaving behind a trail of blazing ice. He sighed to himself again and again. _Shunsui, what on earth are you doing? Get a grip on yourself! Let's end this shit._

Seriously.


	11. Incantation for Robin's Work

**Author's Note**: Finally, we are nearing the end of this story. I have been playing this chapter over and over in my head a few million times and never got tired of it. Hope you like it too.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

In all equity, Hitsugaya Toushirou was really one who never enjoyed, or even cared much to dabble and meddle in the businesses of his fellow taichou and their subordinates. In fact, he had never shown particular interest in his own subordinate's affairs. In the similar aspect and magnitude, Matsumoto Rangiku's greatest joy akin to sake drinking was exactly interfering into others' business. Especially affairs of the heart. What joy, what intrigue it had brought her when hearts were spun and won at her fingertips. This was quite a problem because the trouble she often entangled herself into would require Toushirou cleaning up after. It was something they were both so accustomed, it had become almost ritualistic.

So in every sense of the word integrity, Hitsugaya Toushirou really was not interested nor care the least bit whether Kyoraku Shunsui was in some sort of deranged debacle over the loss of his beloved fukutaichou thinking that she had disappeared into thin air. Really, he did not care at all. It did not concern him whether Shunsui was going to let the Eighth Division collapse in a state of fracas without its fukutaichou and a functional taichou. They weren't even neighbours with him; there was still Hisagi fukutaichou to obstruct any annoying disturbances. Besides, the only women whom he paid any remote attention to were Hinamori Momo, Matsumoto Rangiku and his grandmother. It wasn't like the love life of Ise Nanao provided him with entertainment.

Besides, entertainment like such was extremely childish. He would never be caught involved in such things. So as the Tenth Division taichou stood against the twilight, having not slept a wink, he wondered, he truly wondered to himself why he had even agreed to allow himself be involved in something this complicated that would obviously spiral out of control the first chance it got. Fate had this way of twirling people's fortunes around her fingers like Matsumoto twirled her amber locks around her slender fingers in that vastly debauching manner of hers.

He sighed, lifting a short finger of his to the window sill, gently tracing the wooden frame as though transfixed by that inconspicuous wedge of wood. One by one, the dewdrops of the impending tomorrow were frozen, like as though time had come to a standstill through a sweep of ice. Toushirou secretly adulated his own ice. Ice wasn't just his element. It was his sole passion. He liked the way it seemed to stop time, stop movement, stop flow. He wished he could stop whatever that was going on and revert back to the original state, pretending that nothing had happened.

Even if that was possible within his power, he wouldn't have done it, because Ukitake Jyuushirou would be particularly disappointed. That illness-laden man had a heart bigger than any man in Sereitei and nobody had the courage or lack of conscience to deflate it. Toushirou knew that Jyuushirou simply wished that his two best friends would finally turn lovers and be together happily ever after, but such an accord between them, though sworn to secrecy, had stirred up much turbulence in Toushirou's heart and mind. Toushirou really regretted making that covenant with Jyuushirou, knowing very well that this collusion was one conspiracy that would never, _ever_ work.

His ran a hand through his snowy white spikes and sighed, trying to regain as much of his usual equanimity as possible, then step off calmly: it was soon time to bring Matsumoto her meals.

"Shiro-chan!" A voice called out to him outside the window. Ukitake Jyuushirou's countenance was especially pale in the dawning rays of sunlight, like as though he was composed of paper and would crumble if rain was to fall on him. His voice was chirpy, but his expression solemn. "Shiro-chan, time really is running out. I am afraid we have no choice but to employ our last resort……"

"Don't call me Shiro-chan, Ukitake." He paused for a moment. "Is that our only option?"

"I am afraid so."

"All right then," Toushirou nodded his head in matching formality and froze the air about the two of them, "Ukitake taichou, please execute the Last Plan."

"I will be on my way now. Goodbye, Shiro-chan. I will contact you if there is any development."

"Thank you, Ukitake." Toushirou nodded his head again in gratitude and retired to the window sill once more, wondering just how and when this would all end. _Very soon, I hope._ Indeed, it would all end very soon. Ukitake Jyuushirou shared the exact sentiments as he headed past the Tenth Division office, the Ninth, the Eighth………

* * *

Kyoraku Shunsui was still in the same position as he had been before. If he was not removed, he would soon begin to decompose. His Division Officers were sure of that and sent people down to the Thirteenth Division begging for assistance once every ten minutes. The situation had become so atrocious that Kiyone and Sentarou had set up a shield around their Division Office so that no unauthorized personnel could enter the building. Their taichou needed a break. Kiyone glanced into the room where their taichou was resting, and she grabbed Sentarou by the sleeve tightly. "You! Taichou is missing again! It's your entire fault!" "No it wasn't!" "Yes, it was!" "No, it wasn't!"………

He wasn't interested in anything. Even the aroma of Sake Monaka, which had suddenly become suspiciously abundant around his Division, could not entice him to even request for some alcohol. Everybody knew that when the Eighth Division taichou didn't want sake, it was something serious: either he got the woman he wanted and was too busy to drink, or he was mad. The latter was caustically befitting as Shunsui flipped himself over to the side with much effort, and groaned again. His groans were beginning to sound like a pig's. In fact, other Divisions have begun whispering very ungraciously that the Eighth Division taichou had become an unsightly slump of obsolete feces. This was never repeated in the ears of taichou like Ukitake Jyuushirou and fukutaichou like Hisagi Shuuhei, who had been a good neighbour to Shunsui for decades.

Shunsui's eyes told him that the sky was blue. In fact, it had been a pretty azure that would have pleased Jyuushirou. Such a colour always ameliorated Jyuushirou's cough, and he would always come over to have tea with him. The tea, in his strained, weak memory, would always be steaming hot, contained in a small dainty cup, with a few sprinkles of rose or lavender petals. Nobody served tea this way in Sereitei except for Shunsui.

He didn't like flowers that much, actually. Most people assume it so, and every florist in Sereitei fought lividly just to deliver fresh petals of all species and colours to the Eight Division every morning for Nanao to inspect. _Nanao_. No, Shunsui, let's think about something else, shall we? Yeah, tea. Tea is all right. Shunsui and Jyuushirou liked reading fortunes with the cup. It was a fine way to pass a fine afternoon. They would down their drink in a determined and excited gulp, and exchange cups to admire the pattern formed by petals and tea remnants in the cup. There was once, a skull formed in Jyuushirou's cup and he was so worried he was going to die; he stayed up all night being anxious. He became so ailing, he couldn't leave his bed for a month. Some say fortunes are told, but Shunsui always believed that fortunes were made.

During Valentine's Day one year, he remembered secretly twirling the petals in the cup with his tongue into the shape of a heart. He remembered Jyuushirou's unconvinced chuckle when Shunsui announced his own fortune: that he would make Nanao-san love him. _Nanao_. No, Shunsui, let's think about something else. Tea probably isn't so safe. Valentine's Day, let's think about _others'_ Valentine's Day. A melancholic grin could not be suppressed from Shunsui's rough cheeks full of unkempt stubbles.

Valentine's Day was his favourite holiday. He and Rangiku would do everything they could to meddle with everybody's affairs. There was that time, where they spent the whole night digging a hole outside the Fifth Division and laying thick, February grass over it, hoping that Toushirou and Momo would spent a cozy day in that private space if they were careless enough. But Hitsugaya was a little too late and witnessed his Hinamori fallen into the trap with that measly Izuru Kira. For a whole month after, he gave Matsumoto and Shunsui the cold shoulder. Literally: Every time they chanced upon him, they would leave with their shoulders covered in ice.

Then there was that time, where he and Rangiku wrote to Renji as Rukia and to Rukia as Renji each confessing their love for the other. It wasn't too pretty. Renji had to be rushed to the Fourth Division nursing not only a broken heart but also a thousand wounds when Kuchiki Byakuya learnt of the letter. Shunsui hadn't counted on Byakuya being so protective of his sister, because, seriously, she had to marry someday right? Or maybe Byakuya was trying to make her a nun. At any rate, Renji had refused to drink with either of them for a very, very long time.

But the thing that Shunsui remembered most clearly was that after every one of their little matchmaking ventures, when he returned to his Division sheepishly, Nanao was always there waiting for him, armed with a particularly volume of something, looking sexy and erudite. And she would always, always slam the book hard down on his head. Shunsui always pouted and begged for absolution, even though he knew that she wasn't angry anymore. _Nanao_. Was there anything safe to think about?

Shunsui was beginning to realize that the only thing he could do was to simply not think at all, for that thumping agony in his heart seemed to be emerging again, and he was finding it difficult to breathe. Why? Why did his Nanao have to leave? Why? Shunsui pummeled at beneath him, and soon punctured the ceiling. Staring into his desolate office for the first time in days, he found himself in shock. That same old office where he tried to shirk his paperwork duties, where he was forced to do his paperwork, where he talked and drank tea……all with Nanao. Shunsui shut his eyes and felt the tears going down, trickling down his throat like a slithering, suffocating snake.

He was starting to feel restless and unable to sit still. The rage in him had been ignited. How _dare_ she leave him like this? Without even a goodbye? Didn't she care about him at all? How could Nanao leave him? Indignantly, Shunsui bolted up for the first time in a while, clenching his dist tightly, his fingernails biting deep into his flesh, his eyes filled with stark red blood vessels, his teethe gritted and his breath heavy and uneven.

"Finally. Kyoraku taichou." A voice so calm that it shocked Shunsui. Nearly.

"What are you doing here, Byakuya-san?" Shunsui managed to compose himself and sang his question in that usual manner of his. His composure was ephemeral.

Byakuya carried an anomalous smile filled with enigma. "Order, is what holds Sereitei together. I am certain you are aware of that, Kyoraku taichou."

Shunsui bit his lips and panted, unable to find a word in reply.

"Order must be retained. And you, Kyoraku taichou, you are disrupting this order." The smile from Byakuya's lips had vanished and he was now wearing a lofty expression without much emotion at all. Shunsui was speechless. Byakuya leaned in next to him, and spoke in Shunsui's ear, ever so lightly, ever so casually, like as though those words were to come from the wind and not the Kuchiki clan's own lips. He whispered, "Remember what you told me at my wedding, Kyoraku taichou?" Shunsui was stunned. He had never been as stunned as he watched Byakuya flashed away from his side, and stood at the other end of the rooftop, watching him like as though he was a contemptuous creature.

Actually, Shunsui admitted to himself, he had been one disgusting person lately. He hadn't even thought about himself, the way he had treated Nanao. The way he had behaved. The way he loved her. It was only when she was gone then he realized how important she was to him. He didn't just love Ise Nanao. He couldn't live without her.

Byakuya turned to leave, but Shunsui stood up. Shunsui stood up like a man he had never been before, his face unusually solemn. He grabbed Byakuya's collar, his bursting reiatsu shattering one of the noble's hairpieces. His hands were trembling.

"You don't understand……" Shunsui growled through gritted teeth, "There is nothing……nothing I can do now." He panted, his grip on Byakuya almost tearing the priceless scarf. Byakuya stood unfazed, his eyes exposing a dubitable expression. "You have no idea……how much I have regretted. But she's gone, there is nothing I can do……or say anymore." Shunsui was near the point of collapse as the bulky man's tears were flowing freely onto his tattered cheeks. "YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA!" The bellow notified the entire Sereitei and many froze in their tracks, glancing towards the rooftop of the Eighth Division.

"I have no idea. I never waited till Hisana left before telling her that I loved her." Byakuya spoke as-a-matter-of-fact-ly, like it was completely natural to say such a thing before the entire Sereitei. Many shinigami were wondering if the world had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that day.

"Fuck you." Shunsui let go of the collar, dejected. He buried his head in his hands and stayed there, his thoughts in a mess.

"Say it."

"Hmmm?" Shunsui glanced at Byakuya, confused.

"Just say it."

"But I-"

Byakuya had already turned to leave again. Shunsui knew exactly what he meant. Even though he had told himself so many times, he had never actually brought himself to say anything about it to anybody. He was so certain that everybody, including Nanao, knew of his love. He truly regretted not telling her so when she was still around, but at least the world should know, before he regretted it again.

"NANAO, I LOVE YOU!" Shunsui collapsed into tears on the torn rooftop after exhaling all the air from his lungs. The entire Sereitei was shaking. The entire Sereitei was shaken. The words echoed in every mountain, every valley, spreading to every corner of Sereitei, striking into the heart of every shinigami. The sound lingered in the silence for a long, long time afterward, as though reluctant to leave. "I love you, Nanao……I love you……" Shunsui was choking on his tears as his kneeled on the rooftop, his desperate Division Officers coercing in every way possible to fetch their taichou for a bed rest. Shunsui wouldn't move. He couldn't. His entire mind was fixed on saying what he was saying, like as though it was his sole mission while being born to this world, like as though it was the only thing he could do, like the way a baby could only sleep and cry. "I love you……Nanao, I love you……"

"All right, Taichou. I have heard it."

"I love you, Nanao……" Shunsui was still wailing like a broken tape recorder that kept rewinding itself at the most bizarre places.

"I said, I have heard it. Now go down and rest." The voice snapped, sounding like as though its source had been in some sentimental tearing as well.

"I love you, Nana-"

A heavy book landed on Shunsui's head.

"Huh?" Shunsui looked up, right into the dark, tearful, bespectacled eyes of a smiling Nanao.


	12. All's Well That Ends Well

**Author's Note: **I know, I know. I have been away for way too long. Been on vacation, thinking of how to end this nicely. It's good to know that this story is finally coming to an end, but my story hasn't finished just yet. If you liked the Fall of the Sake King, be on the look out for the seuquel: Return of the Sake King!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

**Fall of the Sake King**

By annyenil

"TAICHOU!" Matsumoto Rangiku had never been more outraged and livid when she was let out of her weeks of imprisonment decaying in the cell only to discover that it had served virtually no purpose at all. It was a desultory and fettered period of emptiness. But the fact that her suffering had somehow completed the original mission of getting Kyoraku Shunsui and Ise Nanao together was comforting enough for her to at least accept her rather farcical punishment in prison.

"Besides," Hitsugaya Toushirou glanced at the flustered Rangiku rather wryly, "your stupid love-hunting, deception plans have caused enough havoc in Sereitei to be locked up anyway." He shrugged and turned away, not wanting to reenact those emotions that had emerged when he did not have Rangiku by his side day and night. It was strange. He felt almost……lonely, helpless. And even a little scared sometimes. Toushirou shook his head. What was he thinking?

"Anyway, to welcome you back," Toushirou slammed a thickest pile of paper his height could permit on the table, "here is the paperwork you have missed."

"That's not fair, Taichou! You locked me up and I couldn't do work!"

"You wouldn't have done it even if I didn't lock you up."

"I'm so tired from being in prison, I need a break." Rangiku comfortably contained herself on the couch and grinned fatuously at her raging taichou, satisfied with her coup from finesse. _Just like old time_, Hitsugaya thought to himself, _just like old times……_He had convinced himself that the only reason he participated in that facetious plan of Ukitake's was that because they signed an convenant that Ukitake will not deliver any confectionery to the Tenth Division for a decade if Toushirou helped in the plan, which would surely fail if Rangiku was let loose chest full of anticipation and passion. A large chest at that. It was definitely not because he felt that Sereitei needed a bit more love in the air. That was stupid. What was he thinking?

"Taichou……" Rangiku moaned. "How could you bear to lock me up……?" She flipped over, her body tugged down by the weight of her frontal assets. Indolently, she began twirling her amber hair, each strand shining like gold under the sunlight peeking shyly from behind the foliage outside the window. Toushirou gulped and cleared his throat. What was he to say? Because, come to think of it, he _couldn't_. He had just been very callously going about doing things. If anybody were to make him actually _think_ about it, he really couldn't……could he?

"Get to work." He bellowed in the manliest manner he could muster.

"Taichou……" Rangiku whined, winking at her blushing, tiny taichou.

"I said, get to work."

"Taichou……"

"MATSUMOTO."

"Hai, taichou!"

* * *

Maybe he could. Just a little.

Shunsui was back on his little cozy rooftop again, with Nanao back to do all the work in the Division. Ukitake Jyuushirou just had to drop by and wonder aloud whether Shunsui was treasuring his precious Nanao or simply manipulating her again.

"Of course I love her, Jyuu. Didn't I say so?"

"Then go do some work."

"Ah, ah. This is what you _don't_ know. Let me tell you a little secret about my lovely Nanao-chan." Shunsui leaned in towards Jyuushirou's curious ear and whispered in an undertone. "She secretly likes work. A lot. So I am very generously giving her all the work in the Division."

"No, I don't." A pair of cold fingers with blunt fingernails suddenly appeared out of thin air and wrung Shunsui's ears like dried wrinkled towels.

"Ow-ow-ow- That hurt……" Shunsui glanced up, his entire body tense. He felt very tenuous all of a sudden. Nanao had somehow overheard Shunsui's little tale and decided to rectify her taichou's stupid excuses for shirking from duties.

"Good morning, Ukitake taichou. Please excuse my taichou's silly comments." Nanao bowed very deeply and exerted on Shunsui's ear with equal force.

"Ow! Ow-ow-ow. Please forgive me, Nanao-sama!" He mumbled and grumbled all the way as Nanao dragged him off the rooftop, leaving Ukitake with a terse smile on the corner of his lips that seemed to speak a lot, and yet remained as succinct as ever.

And so life carried on in that manner in Sereitei. Sometimes civil war would break out in the Ninth Division, and Shunsui would try to sneak into the Thirteenth Division to share Ukitake's bed, but always got kicked out. ("You are too fat, Sui. Get out." "Jyuu, don't be so insolent. It's not like you're _that_ skinny." "I _am_. Now get out.") Sometimes they would be so exultant together that the entire Ninth Division is drowned in petals and the Officers have to swim through the pool of suffocating pink and purple brilliance of spring.

Sometimes Kuchiki Byakuya would stare out at the sakura flittingly drifting in his courtyard from his window and wonder, just again and again, why he had abandoned his gentility and assisted those two idiots in that stupid plan that had worked so disturbingly well. He thought he was above that.

Way, way above.

* * *

Epilogue

Shunsui's eyes were full of gratitude as he took in the sky with all his heart, breathing in the fresh air, watching peacefully as hell butterflies flutter by. He could hear footsteps. It was his lovely Nanao-chan. He chewed on the grass in his mouth. It tasted bitter and sweet, just like how his love had been, wasn't it. Who said love was an emotion for humans? Right now, he felt more powerful than he had ever been. He had been aggrandized by love, hadn't he?

"Taichou, the documents are here."

"Er……Nanao-chan. I have a problem here."

"What is it, taichou?"

"I thought I'd look cool with this grass in my mouth, but it's probably poisonous because I-"

"Then get it out!"

Nanao leaned in to pull the grass out of her taichou's smirking lips, but instead was pulled in for an intimate kiss. Her stiffened body soon relaxed as the serene azure sky showered them with blessings.

"I didn't think you'd fall for the same trick twice, my lovely Nanao-chan."

"I didn't fall for the trick, taichou."

"No?"

"I fell for you."

* * *

Woohoo! I finished my first long story. Hope you liked it. Please await my next work on the Sake King, where things take an unexpected turn?!


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